An Ugly Duckling
by The God Slayer
Summary: This is the story of a young girl that was pulled into a dirty Empire by force. It shows how different she was & how she would be treated for being an Ugly Duckling among the different people around her. Terra's POV on her life in the Empire. Review plz.
1. A Strange New Place

_Chapter 1 - A Strange New Place  
_

It was a cold night in October, the trees were heavy with fresh snow, the ground crunchy with harden snow and water and the sky crystal clear, with foggy clouds that glassed over the bright sun.  
One would say that it was a beautiful day out, but if you saw where the sky was seen, you'd quickly disagree.

On the top ranks of Vector, in the tallest tower made of the finest iron and metal, was a lone room with the whining of a child who barely hit five years old. She was alone, sick, tired and scared. She was tossed onto a large circle bed with the thick red and blue blankets that could crush her and hidden back from the world by black curtains. A giant bolt the size of her body locked the door and kept her inside. She had been crying for nearly three hours straight.  
Who wouldn't after what she saw?

Her nose was red, her eyes swollen and her throat dry. The worst part was that her mommy wasn't there to hold her and protect her from the evil spirit she saw eariler. The man that threw her on the bed was a gawky man; he had bright green eyes and bright yellow hair that was pulled so tightly back, it pulled his back. He was so frightening to her. She whined and whined until the door opened and  
a young man came in with bronze hair and green eyes. He smiled brightly at her and stepped further.

"I see the angel isn't tired yet, huh?" he asked her sweetly as he sat on the end of the bed, holding a cup of warm milk to her. "like your mommy's milk; warm and sweet." he encouraged her to drink it. She frowned and crawled forward, snot running from her nose. She took the sippy cup and sipped from it, giggling at the taste.

"Momma!" she drank all of it and said, her voice lower than her whines from earlier. "Gimme!" he chuckled, shaking his head.

"No dear, that's enough for one day. You need to rest, I heard from the others that you didn't sleep the whole trip here." He stood and helped her under the blankets, fluffing her pillows, he patted her head. "now lay down and rest. I'll have breakfast up for you when you're done." she kicked her feet, trying to free herself from the blankets.

"No, no! Dun ga..." she sniffed. He stopped and sat down besides her, smiling at her.

"You want me to sing to you?" she nodded and sneezed, snuggling up under the blankets, she yawned, drool lightly touched the corners of her mouth. The man laughed and wiped it away using a cloth from his pocket. "Alright, I'll sing for you, dear." he thought of a night tune and sang it to her. Within seconds, her eye lids dropped and she was breathing calmer, smoother; She was asleep.  
He kissed her forehead and stood, leaving the room he left some candles lit and than locked the door shut behind him.

---

"Given the growth of power levels since yesterday, the girl's power is incredibly strong. Its growing even as we speak." said an odd colored man in a yellow lab coat to the even older man in black and gray robs. His long gray beard almost touched the stone flooring as he rubbed his chin, even though his beard caused much of a block.

"Her name?"

"She hasn't told us yet. We've asked, but she cries each time."

"Get her name; I want to know it now!" the man left his the others side. "And Cid? Make sure Kefka and Leo know as well."

---

The door creaked open and the frightened little girl quickly hid under the massive bed, shivering and holding back her crying. She watched black boots walked closer to the bed and than watched as they stopped. She swallowed.

The boots screeched and the figure was leaning down. She felt her little heart start to beat rapidly. Lower the figure went. She felt tears. The figure lifted the bed's skirt and peeked under the bed, smiling at the surprised girl. She smiled, crawling out. The man grinned.

"Hello again, dear." he whispered in a goofy way. She giggled.

"Ullo." she smiled a big, toothless grin. Her wide light lilac eyes were sparkling with delight, but they were red and puffy from crying. "Ullo!" she grabbed at his pants and tugged on them. "Ohoo! Uhp! Uhp!" the man chuckled and lifted her up, balancing her on his hip.

"You're up now. What did you want?"

The girl reached her little hands out and grabbed his cheeks, giggling as she pinched them and pulled them. "Ohoo!" the man laughed, putting the girl on the bed, he leaned down.

"Can you tell me your name?"

She blinked, confused. "Noam!"

"No, name. What is your name?"

She blinked again, getting frustrated. "Nome?"

"Name. N-A-M-E." he smiled, pointing to his chest. "I'm Leo. L-E-O."

The girl seemed to catch on. She laughed, pointing to him. "Lewo." she pointed to herself.

"Terha."

Leo grinned. "What a pretty name, Terra. Do you know what it means?"

She shook her head slowly, lost.

"It means Gaia; our beloved planet. You were named after it. Its special, you're special."

Terra giggled. "spewul!" he nodded, ruffling her hair.

"Good girl! Lets get you something to eat." He picked her up and put her on his shoulders and left the room.

---

"Terra?"

"Yes, that's her name." Leo said, standing straight.

The old Emperor frowned. "Terra is a very strange name for a child to have."

"Indeed; she seems to love it though, sir."

"....Alright, fine. She can keep it, just tell Cid and Kefka. I have a meeting with my uncle and his sons. Farewell, Leo. Travel safe and may peace be in your heart." the Emperor turned and went into his room, closing the door. Leo sighed. _Poor girl..._

The next morning, Leo feed Terra and got her dressed in a Little red dress with orange flowers on them. She didn't seem to scared of her room now, she was curious and shy about it. She'd lightly touch something and bolt away, hiding either behind Leo or under her bed, whimpering until she realized it wasn't going to harm her any. She popped her head out from under the bed and grinned at Leo when he closed the drawers to her very large and tall dresser. She laughed, crawling out to walk over and investigate. When she found it nonthreatening, she chuckled and took Leo's middle finger and held onto it as she smiled up at him with an innocent look of love and naivety. Her little hand fit wonderfully around his finger. She tugged on it and turned to the closet and pointed at it, hiding her face against his leg. Leo sighed and opened the door, than said nothing was inside and closed it.

"Nothing in anything here, dear. Now why don't we head down to the la..." he looked her eyes and frowned. "down to the doctors to see if anything is wrong with you." he picked her up and headed out the door.

The labs, or doctors, was very scary to little Terra. Everything was so much taller than they were in her room and in the hall ways she got to see whilst Leo held her. She was gasping at every little beep, jumping at every thud and hugging Leo's neck at every roar that came from parts and pieces in the lab.  
When Leo finally made it to the actual lab, he put Terra on a large gurney and left the area for a few moments. He returned with a short bald man in a yellow raincoat. Terra blinked, making a scared face. She cried and tried to get off the table, but Leo held her there.

"Don't worry, dear. He isn't going to hurt you. He good man." he smiled at her and pointed to Cid, nodding. "Good." she started at Leo than at Cid and slowly nodded.

"Gowd." she gave him a toothless smirk and bellowed. "Ohoo! Uho." she reached out to the pens in his pockets. "Gimme!" Leo chuckled while Cid took the pens out and than took the ink out. He handed her the pen. She rolled it around in her hands and threw it at the floor when she lost interest. "MOAR!" she cried, wanting the clip of a rose on his shirt. "GIMME!" Leo shook his head in disappointment. Cid handed her the clip. She giggled, chewing on it.

"She's strange." Cid stated, turning to Leo, who rubbed his neck, tired.

"Yes, but she's really sweet. Don't lose patience and she should be very easy to teach." Cid nodded to Leo.

"Tell her you're leaving so she won't freak out on me." Leo turned to Terra and took her little hands in his.

"Terra, I'm leaving for a bit; but don't worry, dear. I'll be right back, promise." she gave him goo-goo eyes and smiled.

"uhkay." Leo said goodbye and left the lab, leaving Terra with Cid, who asked Terra to give him her arm.

* * *

_This is **my** version of Beginnings. My first fanfiction here. It was written by a guest, I edited some lines to the old one. But this is my take on how Terra had it in the Empire, under Kefka's influence._

_Please review and tell me what you think. I really, really would like to know if its good or not...be please be nice to me Y.Y  
_


	2. Suited Up, Young One?

**Answers**: As a answer to my readers (I've gotten a few messages about it and a review lol) yes, Terra speaks that way because she was taken away from her parents at an early age. But no, that's not all. In the Esper Realm, they speak a different language. Her mother, human, was teaching Terra English but Terra was taken away at a early age. So, now that you know that, enjoy!

**Sorry**: I'm sorry I didn't update my other fanfictions. Precious Time will be next, I promise you.

**Help**: BK-201 means -- Beast Knight. The number is the file in which she was given. She's the two hundred and first Esper brought to the labs.

Chapter Name: _Suited Up, Young One?_

Terra cooed when she was given a giant oat-meal cookie with a glass of freezing cold milk. She never knew what a cookie was because her mother only fed her healthy food because she didn't want her daughter stuck on sweets. Although, she did say: "Terra," in sing-song voice. "Shining so bright, so filled with yummies. Her tummy, so yummy. Has enough sweets to fill a bunny." it was a odd song, but the point was for Terra to get she had enough sweetness in her and for fun. Terra loved odd-ball songs like that, it made her giggle madly.

Her reward was given for sitting so nicely for Dr. Cid when Leo left her. Her toothless mouth nimbled and sucked on the cookie, getting it to fall apart in her mouth. She smiled at the yummy taste and took a giant gulp of milk, getting it all around her cute little face. It looked like she had a milk mustache! Cid chuckled.

"Such a sweety," he said as he turned to the tables of mixtures and blood transplants and tubes of Terra's blood, now labeled as 'BK-201". Leo had returned just then, smiling when he saw Terra kicking her little legs as she drank more of the milk.

"Everything go according to plan?" he asked. It was his way of asking '_Is little Terra okay?_' but Cid nodded.

"Of course, Leo," he sighed, carefully putting the tube of Terra's blood in a freezing cap. "I'm not a killer."

"Hm...I know how you feel about working on Espers. You see them as monsters."

"They are." Cid said. It sounded as if it were just his scientific answer and not a past known experience of any kind. Leo rubbed his neck, weakly.

"So you would say this little child is capable of being a monster?"

"If only she were a _child_, Leo." he muttered, writing down a few math numbers to a hard question in his head. He was debating what amount of ingredients to use in blending her blood with others. Leo muttered that she was a _child_, but Cid laughed. "To be a child you must first be human, Leo."

"Her mother is human."

"Her father is Esperian."

"But her mother is--"

"Human. Yes, I know." he finished Leo's sentence. "Now I do know she is a sweety, but even a animal can be a sweety, Leo. I would know -- my own niece brought me a sweet little kitten that, according to her words 'so loving, it needs a home!'." Cid laughed, remembering the scene. It played in his head. Leo sighed.

"Terra is a child, Leo. She acts just like Celes does...only her speech is different."

"Ah, yes. Another reason why she's not a child." Cid added, writing down the finalized numbers. "Ah, good! Finished!" he took his gloves off and slapped them on the table, turning to the young general. "Leo, you've been with that girl for less than three days and you're already defending her. Why?"

"Because she's just a child, Cid." Leo growled, walking over to Terra. "Hiya sweet heart. You full?" she stared blankly at him and smiled.

"Tummy hurts." she frowned and he took the milk away, laughing.

"That's because you ate too much, sweety." he picked her up and held her close to his chest. "Cid, you think you can get Kefka down to the infirmary? I'm taking Terra here to Audrey." Cid waved a hand at him, nodding. So, Leo left with Terra.

[*]

"Audrey? You think you can bathe this little thing?" he laughed when she squirmed at that word. Audrey turned and gasped at her hair.

"Dear lord, she must be dirty!"

"Ah...no, that's her hair color." he muttered, whispering for her not to make fun of it. Audrey sighed, taking the little girl from him. She threw a hissy-fit and cried for Leo.

"I'll try my best...I assume dressed as well?" he nodded and thanked her, hugging her before he left.

The water, to Terra's distaste, was cold. The soap Audrey poured onto her head smelled like biscuits. Audrey and another girl scrubbed at Terra's hair and body for thirty minutes before Terra freaked and started to splash the water around, giggling as she smashed her little fists into the water. Audrey shouted and shouted and after the tsunami was over, took Terra out to dry.

She rubbed the girl dry with a fuzzy red towel and smiled when the girl giggled at the ticklish feeling she got from the soft towel's wool. "Tinkle-y!" she cooed, holding her sides as she giggled. Every time Audrey moved the towel close to Terra, the little girl with laugh even before the towel touched her. She was excited and happy. It was cute. Once the little bugger was dry, she began to dress her in a little tunic shirt and little fuzzy pants. She popped little shocks on and then started with brushing her hair.

Audrey decided to give the little girl a bouncy look. She curled her hair so it was layered and soft. It matched her little face perfectly. Once fully done, Audrey picked her up and walked her down to the office she knew Leo was at and knocked three times. The door open and Leo gasped in surprise at the change Terra went through. Leo took her, pinching her cheeks.

"Aren't you so cute." he laughed, patting Terra's back softly. "Thank you Audrey, you did a good job. Gastra would have hated her showing up all dirty and...well, you know." he thanked her again and closed the door when she hugged him and left. "Let's get you some shoes!" he smiled and sat her down on a chair. He dug through a closet for shoes. The closet had lots of little girl's clothes. Besides a pair of tiny trainer boots, was a short little sword meant for little children. Leo pulled out a pair of brown boots. "Well, this should due until you have some things of your own, dear." he tied them on and lifted the girl up to put her on the floor. "There! Now, we need to go see Gastra." he took her little hand. "Let's go, sweet heart." he paused when she ripped away from him and ran under the bed.

The gentle man laughed. "Terra? Come on out...come on." he leaned down to peak under the bed. "Come on now, Terra. This isn't funny." Leo sighed when she looked away from him, her cheeks puffed up in annoyance. Leo held a hand out to her. "Come here, Terra. Come on! Come to Leo..." she turned away, frowning. The young man sighed and sat back, thinking.

"If you come out, I'll give you cookies and take you to the play ground. How about that?"

"Nao!"

"Terra!" he growled, rubbing his neck. "I'll give you what you want, just come out."

"I wan momma!"

"That's...that's not possible, sweety." the door opened and Leo heard a sick laughter.

"Having trouble, Leo?" asked the amused voice.

Leo stood, shaking his head. "She's upset. She wants her mother."

"Well..." Kefka walked over to the bed and leaned down to look under the bed. "we'll have to fix that." Terra looked frightened when she saw Kefka's scary white face and purple lips. "Come here, little one or I'll eat your cheeks." she gasped, her eyes wide. Leo growled, telling Kefka to knock that off. "I said....come here!" he reached in and took her little arm and ripped her out from under the bed. She screamed and kicked, crying. "Oh shut up, brat!" he covered her mouth. "Leo, I thought Gastra told you to make sure she listens to commands?"

"I...I was trying, she listens most of the time. She's probably missing her mother."

"I don't care about that! Make sure she listens better, Leo." he handed the girl to Leo and pointed a finger at her face. "And you!" she paused from crying, too scared to continue. "If I hear that you've been a bad girl, I will come in here and slice your cheeks off and eat them right in front of you! Understand?!" she nodded, hiding her face against Leo's chest. Leo snarled.

"You leave her alone, Kefka! She's done nothing wrong." he patted her back softly. "Its okay, Terra. He won't eat your cheeks, or he'll be in big trouble." the little girl looked up at Leo, smiling at him.

"Rewally?" she asked, sniffing and holding back tears. Leo nodded and touched her nose with his index finger before telling Kefka they were leaving. The scary mage decided to join them.

[*]

When Leo and Kefka arrived at Gastra's chambers with Terra, he was upset that they were late. His eyes never left Terra's little body when Leo put her down. She darted across the large room, playing with the long, black curtains with roses on them and then she would run all the way back to Leo and tug on his leg, pointing at something she wanted to play with or have. As Gastra watched her, Kefka spoke.

"Sire, when shall we appoint her to her trainings?" he asked, hurrying this talk on. Leo turned to watch Terra playing with one of the guards who stood by the back door. She was tugging on his fancy looking clothes. Gastra sighed, his gaze still on Terra.

"She is how old?"

"Four or five." Leo answered. Gastra sighed.

"And Celes just started a year ago? Start this one up immediately -- no slacking. A...thing like her is very valuable to this Empire." he finally changed his gaze. Leo had to admit to himself, he didn't like the way Gastra was looking at her. The young general felt sick.

"Sir...we haven't even checked her into the hospitals to see if she has--"

"Like I care, Leo. She is my soldier now, she will not get special treatment until I say otherwise." He looked at Kefka, missing Leo's angry glance. "I want you to make sure she has a suitable chamber in the labs. I don't want her to go out wasting my precious time--" Leo frowned. His time? "--by playing with those ratty children. Keep her in the labs and towers. Don't let her out." he glanced at Leo.

"Leo, I trust you to train her physically and with sword?"

"Y-yes sire..." Leo turned to Terra, who was tugging on the soldier's capes. She was laughing. He headed over while Gastra discussed further plans with Kefka.

"Gimme....gimme!" she giggled when the man smiled down at her and shook his head. She frowned and tried to rip it off of him. "Gimm--" she was suddenly picked up. Soon she was staring into the eyes of Leo.

"And why are you bothering the guards, little one?"

"Bah!" she muttered, puffing out her cheeks. She pointed to his silky cape. "Mine?" she asked, frowning. Leo laughed and shook his head.

"No...but we can get you one. How about that?" she nodded, giggling. Leo held her closer to him and turned to Gastra. "Sire, we're heading to the Shoppes to get her some training attire." he nodded at Leo and started to talk with Kefka again.

[*]

Leo was listening to Terra's tired humming while they walked down the streets. He had given her a cloak to hide her hair and something to play with. It was a used, dirty doll he had found in the trash in Celes' room. He didn't want to tell the little blond girl that he had taken it to give to another. She was humming a odd tune, sweetly. It was strange, she had a beautiful singing voice. Leo was tempted to fall asleep, but hung on to staying awake.

When they had made it to the shoppe, he paused. "Terra...what are you singing?" she looked up at him with lilac eyes, tired.

"Slweep hunny." she whispered, yawning. Leo smiled.

"I've never heard it before. Its beautiful. Who did you learn it from?"

"Ma...mamma..." she fell asleep in his arms, dropping the toy to the floor. Leo sighed, leaning down he picked up the doll and stuffed it in his pocket and headed inside the shoppe. Inside, was his most favorite girl of all time -- his niece, Bell. She was fifteen and very tall with brown hair and green eyes. She was just like Leo's sister, a cunning and caring woman who had fiery passion.

"Bell?" he asked, the girl turned, smiling.

"Uncle Leo....who is that?" she asked, pointing to the little girl resting in his arms. He smiled, setting her down.

"She is work from Gastra himself. You can't say a word about this," he quickly showed Bell Terra's hair and then covered her up again. "Her name is Terra. I'm here to get her some work clothes for training. Like Celes had last year?" he asked, seeing if his shocked little niece remembered. She nodded, weakly.

"Size of the girl?" Leo rubbed the back of his neck. Bell rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll check! Jeez, men." Bell pulled the back of Terra's shirt and fuzzy pants to see her sizes. "Alright, and now her feet." when she got all the sizes she needed, she asked if there were something special she were to do with the attire.

"Black, red and gold, please." he said, covering little Terra up with his jacket after he sat her on the little couch. Bell ran off, saying she was sure she had something like that in the back. When she came back, she was holding a crate. She dropped it on the floor.

"Here. All the Empire clothing she'll need for a year...unless she grows extremely fast as well...?" she said, meaning her hair color. "I put some different boots in there too, because the one shes has now look old." Leo thanked his niece.

"You are such a charming young lady, Bell." he smiled, picking Terra up. "Just like your mother." Leo looked down at the crate. "Um...heh, I'll send someone over for that!" he laughed, leaving the little Shoppe.

[*]

"Don't Terra, sit still!" he muttered, fixing the tunic the little girl had put on. It was a little too baggy, but it would do. He fixed her over shirt and then popped her shoes on, smiling. "There, all done -- hey, come back!" he sighed when she ran off, giggling. He got up to follow her when he saw her run out the door and into the halls. He peaked out and saw her sneaking up on a man in a lab coat. It was Cid. She must had recognized him. She jumped at his leg and squealed in delight. Cid looked down, laughing.

"What are you doing out here, little lady?" she smiled, seeing the pretty, right pens in his pockets. She reached out to take them.

"Purdy! Gimme, gimme!" she snatched a bright red one away and chewed on the end, laughing when he picked her up.

"Cid," called Leo. Cid turned, holding the little girl out to him. "thanks." he laughed weakly, taking Terra. He took the pen away. "That can kill you, Terra. No -- no, Terra. I said no!" he muttered, giving the pen back to Cid. She started to cry, sniffing.

"I wan pend!"

"Terra, behave!" he shouted. The little girl frowned and hid her face in his neck, her little arms wrapped around his neck. "Good girl." He looked up at Cid. "Have her tests ready yet, Cid?"

Cid glanced at Terra. "I do actually...you won't like the tests, Leo...and neither will she." he asked them to follow him.

* * *

_Um...better chapter, yes? I have no idea if this was good enough for a sorry chapter. I will be updating more, because I love writing! :D_

_Review please and be kind...please?_


	3. Unlucky Or Cursed?

A Ugly Duckling

Chapter: _Unlucky Or Cursed?_

Leo was thinking the tests would be something small -- not painful toward Terra. When he found out he was wrong, he hated watching Terra get tested on. She was just a baby, she couldn't handle the different drugs, the needles constantly being poked into her arms and belly or the painful shocks. She cried and cried and asked if she were a bad girl and cried that she'd never be a bad girl again. Leo's heart ached. She was a babe in a world she didn't know. He knew they all looked so different than her past life. He knew she missed her mom and dad, especially when it was night and she had nightmares.

When the tests were done and she had wrappings all over her thin arms, Leo whispered in her ear that she wasn't a bad girl and that he'd buy her icecream and cookies when they leave. Of course she didn't understand the last part, she heard she wasn't bad and giggled, reaching up to the gentle giant. He swooped her up and lifted her to his shoulders. She put her legs around his neck and placed her hands on his ears, as if he were some kind of riding animal.

Leo had to sign a few papers Cid had, but when they were done, Cid slapped a slip around Terra's wrist and clipped it together. It was a patient number. Leo's annoyed expression made Cid hurry out of the lab to run tests on her blood and shock reactions. He took one of Terra's hands off his ear as he walked toward the door and kissed her little fingers. "Now let's get you some icecream." she giggled and pulled her hand away, grabbing his head again to rock it from left to right.

The icecream was vanilla, her favorite. She ate it with her hands, as it was a food she'd never seen or ate before back in the Esper Realm. It was cold and sugary, she enjoyed it. When Leo gave her a spoon, she'd toss it away and eat with her hands. Of course he knew all children did it, he couldn't help but want her to be more adult like, like the other Vectorian girl, Celes. He wanted Terra to blend in, despite her appearance. Pointed ears, almond like eyes and sharp teeth with strange, yet beautiful, mint green hair. And the odd reactions of an animal, which he didn't share with Cid or anyone else.

Her bright lilac eyes turned to him when she ate all her icecream. She pouted and pushed the bowl and whined. He chuckled and picked her up. "Ate too much?" she made a drowsy face and reached out to his neck, attempting to wrap her arms around them to sleep. He held her against him as he got up and left. He wanted her to be completely distracted from her tests.

The next morning the test results came in and Cid decided to rush his men into filing them and ending the long lines of rechecks. Leo had come into the little lab early, his face hard with worry. He had prayed that Cid wouldn't find anything special about Terra, but then again he knew if he didn't, they would just end Terra's life. Seated, Leo crossed his arms and glared at Kefka, the gawky man stalking the lab, his face turn toward the ground, his hands fidgeting with anticipation. When the door opened, Cid came out, flipping through hundreds of papers. A lot of the papers were colored red. Leo stood as Kefka stopped pacing, snapping his fingers at Cid, expecting the papers to appear in his hands.

When the two generals were seated, Cid sat before them, finding the first page. "Where to begin?" Kefka growled.

"Just tell us, Cid!" Cid waved a hand thoughtlessly at him and cleared his throat.

"Her blood is unlike anything I've ever seen before."

"What do you mean?" Leo frowned, leaning forward.

"Well," he sighed, rubbing his chin. "You know the tales about Werewolves and how they have mixed blood? How they can 'shift' forms?" they nodded. "Well, judging by her blood, I have a thoery she can shift into something else -- a Esper."

Kefka's eyes gleamed. "What of the changing part? Is there sure a way to activate it?" Leo glared at Kefka, biting back a sharp reply. Cid shook his head.

"No, I'm not even sure if I'm right. But if I am, then it would be able to transform for large amounts of time." he held a hand up and opened his fingers and started to push the fingers back down. "First, I'd have to figure out how to change it. Second, I would have to figure out what types of pressure or physical reactions to use. Third, I'd have to test its personality and anger levels. Fourth, I'd have to set up proper machines and air support, to make sure it doesn't die from shock," Leo gasped gently and looked away when Kefka turned toward him. "and finally, I'd have to make sure...well, I'd have to first sign a paper saying I hold no responsibility to its death."

"What!" Leo snapped, standing. "You're going to kill her!"

"Of course not! Settle down, Leo!" Cid barked. "But if it does die, I will not want to be punished because I'm being forced to work on it."

"Stop calling her 'it'! She is a living girl, a girl that deservers your compassion Cid! You wouldn't speak such words to Celes." Kefka leaned back, smiling as he folded his hands on his lap, enjoying the scene.

"Celes," Cid growled. "Isn't a monster that shift forms! She came from here -- our planet -- whilst your little disgusting creature came from another realm. She is half a monster!"

"She's not a monster!"

"One day Leo," Cid threatened. "one day you will see her change before you and kill. And then you will see her as the monster she is. Until then, sit down and shut up, or you can leave." Sitting back down, his hands clenched, he looked down at his knees. She's not a monster...she's not...is she? And then Cid continued with the test results.

When Kefka reported what the tests said, Gastra was delighted. He smiled an rubbed his thumb and index finger together as he thought over everything. "And Cid claims he sees power in her?"

"Enough to be very afraid of her...and to scream at Leo."

"I see. Confirmed?"

"No."

"Then what?" he asked, annoyed.

"Well, he has a theory the girl can change into another form, like the werewolf legends, my king. He claims that if he found something that bothers her, or harms her, he could use it to activate her change, if it exists."

"Pain is all it takes?"

"Seems so, my master. What shall I do?"

"Ready the labs; tell Cid he may perform the tasks needed and that he will hold no responsibility for whatever happens."

Bowing, Kefka looked up, a sick smirk on. "Yes my liege. I will tell him." and then he departed the throne room, briskly.

"Lawb?"

"Yes, the lab Terra."

She thought for a moment. "Why?" he gazed down at her, aware of her little hand in his. He sighed.

"Because the doctors have to run some more tests."

"Te..tah...tes...tests?" he smiled and hugged her to him when she pronounced the word correctly. He tapped her nose with his finger.

"Yes. They need to see if you have any problems."

She pouted. "I dan wan tests." she nearly cried, but he stopped her and looked her right in the eyes.

"I know it'll hurt...but you have to be strong, okay? I will get you icecream if you behave." she giggled and nodded.

"Vanilla!"

"Yes! Vanilla!" and then he took her hand and led her through the doors.

The tests, as Cid promised, were extremely painful and very dangerous. Cid put her through multiple painful moments. Shockings, slappings and other forms of abuse. The most hurtful thing to watch, or so Leo thought, was when Cid actually stopped her heart for three minutes and for the longest time couldn't revive her. When air was bushed back into her and she was breathing, they continued the tests, despite her blue lips and ill response time.

The next days went the same. Leo would promised her icecream, but she'd be so ill and hurt they'd call it off. For over a month they worked and found nothing. It was starting to look like she was just a little human girl, but Cid came across a frightening discovery.

He burned her. And yet, she lived through it, perfectly fine. Felt no heat, no pain. She didn't even say it was getting hotter. She lived past the doctors burning her. When reported, Kefka came running into the lab, to test himself. Leo, struck with fear and disgust, stopped Kefka and picked Terra up, she cried. Her arms hurt and her neck was stiff. But he didn't notice the stream of tears pouring down her cheeks.

"I will not allow you to porpusly set her on fire!"

"She'll live, Leo! Did not you hear what Cid said? She is a power house!"

"She's a child! And you will not bring such abuse to her."

"Its on Gastra's orders, Leo. Don't make me go to him."

"Fine, go ahead. I'm taking Terra to her room, the place she hasn't seen for a while!" and then he stormed out of the lab, frustrated and angry.

An hour after setting Terra to sleep, a knock was heard. He opened the door and saw Kefka standing there with four guards and a slip of paper. He held the paper up as he said: "Gastra's orders: I am to take Terra with me, she won't be living with you anymore." astonished and raged, Leo tried to stop the men from picking the girl up in her sleep.

"No, no!" he barked. "Let her sleep! Please...please -- hey stop!" he pushed a soldier away from Terra's bed, she rolled her head. He turned to Kefka. "Please Kefka. Take her tomorrow, allow her to sleep. Please? I beg of you...have some mercy on her."

Kefka rubbed his chin and smiled. "I'll tell you what. I will let the girl sleep, but not here. She will be moved to her new room tonight."

Leo growled, but nodded. "Alright...thank you, Kefka." The men carefully picked Terra up, wrapping a blanket around her. Her teddy bear fell to the floor from her little hands and then the soldiers and Kefka left. Disoriented, Leo dropped to the floor beside the stuffed animal.

That poor girl...

The days went by and Terra waited patiently for Leo's appearance. Each day before her tests she stood before the barred door in her tiny little room and watched the doorknob, hoping to see it twitch. For a week she stood, for a week she didn't allow her heart to be opened. And then, on the thirteenth day, she sat before the door and cried. Her heart hurt and her eyes burned. The most painful experience she's ever had...she knew he hated her and cried and cried, yet no one heard her whines, for she was alone...again.

On the eve of thirty days, Terra was taken to the lab early. She was told to wait as Cid left the room to chat with the other important roles of the Empire. Terra turned and saw a slim eight year old girl staring coldly at her. She smiled, unsure of what this small creature was...she remembered seeing herself in a mirror once and thought that this creature resembled her in many ways. She slowly made her way to the blond hair girl and smiled.

"Hi..." Celes' eyes darkened. Terra's encouragement was thinning. "I'm Terwa...no, Ter-ra." she sounded it out and smiled at her, waiting. The seven year old girl turned her head. Terra's eyes widened. "I noa...no good?" the blond pouted her lips.

"Uncy Cid says no talkin with monsters." Terra frowned, looking around, startled.

"M-monsters? W-where?"

"There!" the girl jabbed a finger into Terra's chest. "You!"

"Ma-ma....me?" she asked, crying. "I no monster. I Terra."

"You are too!"

"Am no!

"Are too!"

"Am no!"

"Are--"

"No!" Terra pushed Celes down. "No!" and then she tackled Celes and they started to slap each other and pinch, screaming and crying. The burst opened and Cid, Kefka and Leo stormed in. Kefka crossed his arms as Cid jumped toward the scene, pulling Terra off.

"Get off of her! Get...off!" Leo gasped at the scene and then hurried over to pull Celes out from underneath Terra. Cid pushed Terra away from him when Celes was freed. "Celes, dear...oh dear, are you okay?"

Terra smiled when she saw Leo. "Leow!" and then she ran toward him, her arms outstretched. "Leow! Leow!" and then she grabbed his leg and hugged as tight as she could, crying. "...dan go again...dan go..." Leo slowly pushed her away.

"Terra, look what you've done to Celes." he threw a hand toward Celes, meaning the scratches all over the blond's face and the bruise on her chin. "You hurt Celes! What were you thinking!" Terra jumped back, her eyes watering up.

"I no monster." she cried, sniffing. "I no monster..."

"You!" Cid turned to her, holding Celes close. "You little wretch! You hurt my niece! I knew you'd be the monster your kind is." Leo reached out to stop Cid, but looked down at Terra, whose eyes were wide.

"M-ma-monster? I monster?"

"You're more than a monster! You're a...a...a beast!"

Terra cried and reached out to Leo, tears in her eyes. "No monster...Leow?" even though she couldn't form her words right, he understood. He looked down and shrugged her hand off his leg.

"What do you expect to be called when you attack other people?"

"B-but...she...I...she says me...a monster. Why I monster?" Leo turned away from her and leaned down to lay a hand on Celes' shoulder.

"You okay, Celes?" the little girl nodded and Terra became flustered.

"Leow...I no...no..not monster. I..In I'm good girl, see?" she pointed to her clean clothes. "No mess!" Leo wasn't paying attention. "No...mess." she whispered, her heart hurting._ I...make no mess. I good girl_. Tears formed in her eyes when Leo picked Celes up and placed her on his shoulders. _I good girl...I..I'm no-not monster. R-right?_ her little hands started to shake as she swallowed the lump in her throat. Seeing Leo leave with Celes and Cid made her run to them.

"No! No! No! Im a good girl! I am!" she screamed at them, but they closed the door behind them, leaving her alone with Kefka, who was sighing. She fell to her butt and fiddled with her clothes as she sobbed. Kefka laid a hand on her head and leaned down to whisper in her ears.

"Don't cry...you still have me, Terra."

Three years later

Terra was now nine years old and was already a year and a half into her training. She was getting taller, for her age, she was too tall. Her light eyes had become a darker purple shade and her ears were more slanted back. Her teeth was sharper and more were there and her speech was far better, although still behind most her age. She had this old accent, even for her age. They all assumed it was because she was half Esper and human. To fit her purring voice and description, they called her Bright Tooth, or the most common, "Hybrid" or "witch". They spared her feelings as if they were talking to a murderer.

She was constantly being talked about while she was in the room. Insults about her hair, her eyes, her teeth, her ears, her skin color, her height...her speech. She just wanted people to leave her alone. She knew they didn't like her...why did they have to pester her so much with it? It hurt enough as it is.

Training under Kefka, Terra never interacted with others, as Gastra had ordered. She would see up on the hills over looking the others and watch them play or spar with each other. How she longed to talk with them...to show them she wasn't the "monster" she was constantly called. She wanted to share her dreams, her nightmares, her laughs and her smiles with another person, instead of talking to herself in her room as night, explaining to her 'friend' that she had seen another ghost or that she had a dream of flying. She's share secrets with him and share her laughs and sorrows. Kefka would come in then, and ruin it by saying nothing was there and that she has to stop talking to herself. She nod and wait for him to leave before she hid under her blankets and talked to him so more.

The neglect of friends or interaction of any kind resulted in her shyness and her inability to speak to anyone other than Kefka. When not training, she was inside, in her dark room. She grew pale and thin. Purple rings hung under her dark purple eyes, bruises decorated her body from multiple hits from a wooden sword.

She held her sword close to her chest as she followed Kefka away from the training ground she was use to and into the labs she knew by heart. She would occasionally see the man she remembered as "The Clever", Cid. She remembered the last time she sat more than ten minutes with him, three years ago when she lost Leo. She had to see him though, once every month. She was glad it was once. She kept her eyes down, her mouth shut and her hands folded in her lap. When asked a question, she'd ignore him.

In truth...she hated him. The reason she called him "The Clever" was because he acted like the weapon Kefka showed her and would cut her connections to people away, or cut her hair when it got too long for his tests. Oh how she hated the man in yellow.

On this particular day, she sat in the chair waiting for Kefka. She saw the girl that destroyed everything...Celes. She was walking besides a man she barely recognized. But when it struck her who it was, it hit as if she were sat on by a elephant. It was the man she thought she'd never see again, Leo. She watched as he neared, her breathing irregular. She wondered, no prayed, he remembered who she was and would hug her like he use to. But then he paused before her, Celes watching, and frowned. "Who are you? Are you lost?"

Her heart shattered as she looked down. "Bright Tooth." she replied, tears in her eyes as she jumped off the chair and ran off. He shrugged and walked off with Celes.

When Kefka found her after two hours of searching, he was furious. He exploded into a storm of slaps and punches, yet she controlled her pain and took the punishment. When he was done swearing and hitting, he growled and stormed out of the room, leaving Terra with a black eye and bruised throat. She crawled onto her bed and pulled the blankets over her, wincing as she cried. Within seconds her mind brought up her 'friend' and she was talking, explaining everything.

"Kefka," Leo called, stopping the tall man. "There was this girl in the labs a week ago...who was she?"

"How the hell should...wait, was she wearing a red cloak?" Leo nodded and Kefka chuckled.

"You forgot her, Leo? How lovely."

"Her?"

A sick grin appeared on Kefka's face. "I'm surprised, its only been three years. Don't you remember little Terra?" It took a moment, but Leo gasped.

"T-that...that was Terra?"

"Ahaha, you're slower than I remember, dear boy."

"W-why...wait, she's still alive?"

"Why wouldn't she be?" Kefka asked, frowning. "Gastra ordered her to serve, she's very powerful you know."

Leo's eyes darkened. "I would have thought of her death for attacking Celes."

"Oh? You seek blood then? You can find her in the next room, Leo. Take your sword...cut her throat." Leo's hands twitched. "Go...I won't tell." just then the door opened and Terra came out, dressed in a tunic of a light brown color. Her arms were completely covered in wrappings and he could see a recovering bruise on her eye. She paused, staring at Leo. He realized she still remembered him and frowned at her. She fidgeted and stepped back, unsure of what to do. Kefka gestured to Terra. "She's weak now...she won't run far."

"Why kill such a creature?" he demanded, and turned his glare to Terra. She swallowed and took a few steps toward both Kefka and Leo. She opened her mouth.

"G-good m-mor-morning, L-Leo." she waited for a reply. "I...well, I." she was thinking of the right word Kefka was teaching her. "I lost...no, I missed." she nodded to the word. "I missed you." He looked away and glared at Kefka.

"Didn't Gastra order you to keep it in the towers?"

It? She thought, weakly. Kefka chuckled. "I am allowed to bring her out of the tower to the courtyard and labs, Leo. Its her training."

"It shouldn't be allowed to walk around. Remember what happened to Celes?"

"I didn't hurt her." they turned to look at Terra, who blushed under their gaze. "She said I was a monster...I'm not."

Leo growled and took a step toward Terra, raising a hand. She fell back, looking up in fear at the man she loved, the man she thought of as her father. He was now just another Kefka to her. "You are a disgusting creature! You can't even admit you harmed her! I wish we never found you...I wish I killed you when I had a chance." and then he turned and hurried out of the labs, his anger boiling. Kefka smirked.

"Hm...I've never heard such..." he stopped when he saw Terra crying. "Oh get over it. What did you expect? Forgiveness for attacking a girl he loves as his own daughter?" she sobbed at the word 'love'.

"I missed him..." she cried. "I missed him..."

Kefka sighed. "You know what would help you forget about him?" she looked up at him. "Ask Gastra to allow you fuller time outside. Train hard and you won't remember him at all."

"C-can it make my hear stop h-hurting?"

"It can given time." he smiled when she nodded.

"Okay...I'll try."

* * *

_I'm so sorry for not updating sooner! I should have, but I just had so much of my time taken away...anyway, enjoy and please review! I would love to see more reviews. :)_


	4. Breaking

A Ugly Duckling

Chapter: _Breaking_

Its been nearly two years since she last saw Leo, the one she use to all the Gentle Giant. She so alone. The only people -- which she found odd -- she was allowed to see, was Kefka, Gastra and Celes -- the girl everything hated Terra for attacking. Although she didn't attack the girl, everyone assumed so. Everyone looked at her like a monster even more. She watched guards clean off the words written in red ink outside her room 'Die monstrous hybrid' or 'We're coming for you, monster!'. It terrified her, she knew what it meant, for Kefka constantly threatened her that way when she wouldn't...

She would often hide herself inside her room with her spare time, under her bed, and would try to call upon the ghost friend she would speak to at night, but he no longer came. She was alone and hurt. Broken from what she use to be. She could no longer look at adults or others the way she use to, she was destroyed. She feared everyone, even Leo, despite his absence in her life. She was short of turning eleven, and she didn't understand anything or why she is being treated the way she is.

She was outside in the courtyard training with Kefka when she heard the horns blare. She looked away for the flattest second and was whacked quickly on the head. She fell, crying, holding her head. Kefka snorted. "What a waste you are." he kicked dirt at her face and then turned to look down the courtyard. Leo was marching in with twenty soldiers and Celes. The girl looked deadly for her age. They were heading over. Kefka smirked. It would be the first time in almost two years Leo has seen Terra. He would enjoy the scene.

"Kefka," Leo meekly said, slightly bowing his head toward the pale clown. Kefka grinned.

"Leo." he leaned down and patted Terra's head. "Terra, why don't you go off and play a bit with Celes, hm?" Leo growled.

"Kef--"

"Oh chill, Leo, I meant train. Go on now, girl!" he picked her up and pushed her toward Celes, who glared and turned on her heel. "You know, Terra has gotten better."

He looked toward the two girls. "Not as good as Celes, I'd wager."

"She's better...in a lot of places." he chuckled. "Her magic, for one."

"We'll see." and then they headed off to follow the girls.

Terra weakly held the wooden sword up toward Celes, her arms making the piece of wood wobble about. Her eyes were wide with fear of messing something up and having to pay for it later. Celes held her sword with pride, nobility and grace, as if it were an extension of her arm. She swallowed.

"I...don't wish to hurt you." Celes' eye twitched to her words. "I wish to practice...may we go easy?"

"No," said the blond girl. "This is to show who is better, now fight!" the girl charged in and struck Terra across the arms and legs. The girl tumbled and let the sword fall out of her hands. Terra reached for her sword, but Celes struck Terra on the back and hip. The little girl cried and tried to cover her face, hoping Celes didn't strike her there. Celes kicked the sword away from Terra and smiled. "Dead."

"P-please...I don't want to die!" she whined, shaking. Celes frowned, dropping her sword.

"I'm not going to really kill you, silly!" she laughed, holding her sides. "We train for this kind of practice, get over the cuts and bruises. You're a warrior, act like it." Terra sniffed and got out of her shell, looking up at the blond girl.

"You won't kill me?"

Celes shook her head. "No. We're practicing. Its like playing for warriors."

"But Master Kefka said that you'd get to kill me if I failed."

"What?" she laughed. "Kefka told you that? Don't listen to that fool," she reached down and helped Terra up. "You may be a monster but even I don't degrade myself to that kind of violence."

Leo and Kefka growled, impatient and worrying why the fight stopped. Terra sniffed again.

"Why do you think I'm a monster?"

"Because you are..."

"B-but why? Did I scare someone?"

"No, but look at you. You don't look like a human, but more like those things running around outside."

Terra pointed to herself, frowning. "I look like those things?"

"Yes." Celes' small answer caused Terra a lot of grief.

"But...I'm not. I'm just like you, only I don't have yellow hair." the other girl giggled.

"Well, at least being blond is better than having green hair!" she laughed, but stopped when she saw Kefka and Leo approaching. She straightened and put on a blank face.

"Terra," snapped Kefka, grabbing the girl by her wrist. Terra cried, trying to rip away from his grasp. "How dare you! I told you to fight!"

"Pl-please Kefka! I tr-tried! I did...please don't hurt me...please." Kefka dragged her further away from them and slapped her across the face.

"Shut up, brat. I told you to do something and you didn't do it!" He took a deep breath. "Wait until we get back to our room." he threatened, shoving her toward the ground. He turned to Leo. "She needs more discipline. Don't worry, by tomorrow, she'll obey and show just how deadly she is."

* * *

Leo was waiting the next day in the courtyard with Celes, tapping his foot. It was getting late, he didn't want to stay here all day. When he was about to leave, he saw two figures coming out of the hallway. When they got close enough, Leo couldn't stop the sharp gasp and the feeling of disgust. Walking -- limping -- toward them, was Terra. Her face was bruised, her arms bruises, her lip healing from a cut, her eye black, her face purple...everything was wrong the picture. Now one thing on her resembled a child, or the original Terra. Kefka had beaten her terrible. Three of her fingers were broken, he could tell, and were wrapped up and supported by sticks. Her dressings were poorly given, he knew she was in pain.

She was stopped before Leo. "She'll show you her talent. I promise." Kefka whispered to him as he pushed Terra toward Celes. The girl fringed at his touch and ran toward Celes, hiding behind her. Leo stopped a snarl.

"What have you've done to her?" was Leo's simply question. Kefka shrugged.

"I didn't do anything...dear Leo."

"Kefka--"

"--Look." he ordered, pointing.

"I won't look until you tell me what you did to her!"

"Why do you care, Leo? You hate her, don't you?" Terra sneezed, a blot of black blood coming from her nose. Celes gasped and pulled on Leo's leg. The tall man turned and gasped, pulling Celes away from Terra. The green haired girl coughed and fell to her knees, crying. She was frightened by the blood and by the pain.

"What have you've done, Kefka!" he snapped, grabbing the hilt of his sword. "What did you do to her!"

A sick grim appeared on Kefka's face as they heard Terra sob. Leo spared a look to the destroyed girl. Blooding was dripping out of her nose faster than he's ever seen on anyone. She was mumbling about really bad pain in her head. "Kefka! Answer!" Celes cried out.

"She fell!" they turned and saw the green hair girl laying limp on the floor. Leo leaned down to check her pulse.

"She needs help, Kefka! Now!" he picked the girl up and then told Celes to follow and hurried off, leaving Kefka to laugh to himself.

* * *

Leo was outraged when Cid told him what has happened to the girl. The bleeding nose was from multiple hits to the face and nose. Cid said that if he had hit her harder, it would have killed her. He gave her medicine and drugs to help her sleep, so she could heal faster. But what Cid uncovered by Leo sick to his stomach.

She had been raped. Multiple times. Leo, after gaining confidence over his ability to not throw up, asked if it were possible to tell how long its been going on.

"I'm not sure....The only way would to be ask her, but she could lie, Leo. But then again, the damage is defiantly months old. Whenever she'd come into medical checkups, she'd get all bent out of shape and even more so every visit. I should have noticed the patterns, especially when Kefka didn't want me to check her body." Cid sighed, rubbing at his eyes.

"She'll be fine."

"Fine? You call being...being raped by Kefka fine!"

"What's the problem Leo?" Cid growled. "You can't keep changing sides like this! It'll only hurt her more." Leo looked away.

"She's still a living thing....people under such cruelty is wrong, especially if Kefka was the cause."

"As I said...she'll live."

"She won't be Terra."

"She was never really 'Terra' to begin with. She is a test subject, we shouldn't have given or let her, keep a name."

Leo sighed and gazed over at the bed Terra was sleeping on. She was sound asleep. He knew for that moment, she couldn't feel the pain.

"That's...that's why she was so scared around us. The guards, they told me whenever they would take her to checkups, she freak out about them touching her, but I just...just thought it was something else."

"I...you understand I don't want Celes around him, right?" Cid asked, checking Terra's vital signs as he spoke. Leo nodded.

"I will protect Celes..." _even if it means giving up another child to him_. His eyes fell on Terra's broken face. _Even if it means giving you up.  


* * *

_When Leo reported Kefka's crime to Gastra, but the Emperor told Leo that what Kefka does is his own business, but he would put a stop to Terra's senseless beatings and rapings, if he could. He let Kefka off with a find and three months of no pay and constant watch. Leo almost slapped Gastra when he said the girl would stay with Kefka.

"But sir....he raped her and beat her."

"She will stay and if she continues to disobey him, he can punish her whatever way he sees fit. But I won't allow him to harm her from senseless things."

"And what's senseless to you?" Gastra growled at Leo's ignorance.

"Being beaten for silly things like not getting him a drink, or following in time. Punishment molds the solider, after all."

"Celes has never been harmed and look how well she is."

"Celes is a human, she can comprehend what we say better than Terra." he waved a hand at Leo. "Now leave me, I've got something important to attend to."

* * *

_This is a short chapter I already had made. I hope you guys like the read, and please report any errors! Thanks for reading, kind people! :D_


	5. SingAhLong

Thanks for the reviews everyone! I'm so sorry that I had to make such a sad thing happen, but I think that Kefka would defiantly do this. He loves to dominate over smaller things, that's why he enjoys the puppets. I hear that the books say that he often dressed Terra up like a doll, which he loves to collect. So I'm making him have a generic character background. He is creepy, after all and its said he had more than fascination in Terra.

A Ugly Duckling

_Sing-Ah-Long_

"Silllly!" the rain was pouring outside. "Silllly!" thunder exploded someplace outside. "Silllllllly!" another clap of thunder. "Silly little, rain!" something fell outside the cell room. "Silly little rain! It pours!" Another thunderclap, this time louder. "Silly rain, you make me insane!" the wind was roaring outside. "Insane, insane, insane! Silly rain!"

A thunderous boom was heard. "Silly rain! Wash me away! Silly rain! You make me insane!"

Someone started to open the cell doors, slowly. "My silly, little rain! Take me away...you make me insane...silly little rain!" the door opened fully and in the door way, soaking wet for he had run through the storm to get to the isolated cell in the tall eastern tower, was a grunt solider. Upon his shoulder, the symbol of Kefka's personal troop. He was glaring at the eleven-twelve year old girl in the corner of the cell, her hands clamped over her ears, her body shaking. "Silly rain! Oh silly, silly rain! Wash me away! Silly, silly raaaaaaaaain!" another loud, angry thunderclap exploded as the grunt stepped into the cell.

"You, get up now. Kekfa needs you." the girl looked up, a blank expression on. "I said get up!" he snapped. He noticed her face. He had never seen the girl, this was his first visit...and he wished it were his last. The young girl's face was completely bruised. She had purple bags under her eyes, pale skin from being forced into the cell for nearly her whole life and a shaky, weak body. She was tall for her age, gawky and thin. He could tell she needed a lot more food than they were giving her. Her arms were wrapped in bandages and her feet bare. She wore a simple, red poor girl's cloth, with a rope as a belt. She cocked her head to the left to see him better. He could see that she hasn't been outside during the day much, because she couldn't see him until he stepped out of the sun's light and into the darkness. The storm was starting to clear up...

She blinked and stopped singing her tune to watch him. He bit back a swear word and reached a hand down. "Come on now...we'll get you something to eat." she looked down at his hand and frowned, reaching her hand out, she opened it and touched the palm of his hand with her index finger, as if she were checking to see if he were really there. He smiled, a little. "Good...good...come on now, up." she pulled away from him and ran to the other corner, crying as she grabbed her head and laid it against the cold, smooth surface of the walls. "No," he growled, frustrated. "we have to go...Kefka will be angry!"

She winced at his name. The grunt sighed. "Kefka will be so angry, he'll come down here himself! Do you want that?" after a few seconds, she shook her head and pulled away from the wall to stare at him, sadly. "Good girl." he smiled.

He had thrown a cape over her head to keep the sun from hurting her he couldn't cover her abnormally pale skin. She looked pure white, as snow, maybe even whiter. People stared...no, they stared in shock. Some young men, in their twenties, maybe nasty remarks in a sexually way, so the grunt wrote their names down to have them arrested for open sexually assault against a minor.

When the grunt made it to Kefka's desired meeting place, he saw more than Kefka. Gastra, their Emperor, was there, as well as the famous Doctor Cid and Leo...with a strange little girl with blond hair. The grunt bowed deeply to them all, even the girl, for she wore a pin of higher status than a corporal. "I have her, sir..."

Gastra's lips pulled up into a sick smile as he saw the girl behind in, hiding under a cape, her body shaking. She never got to walk much...it would explain a lot. "This is Terra...?"

Kefka chuckled, evilly. "Yes, this is her." he said it as if he molded her into a perfect puppet. Gastra snapped his fingers. "Celes!" the girl ran to his side quickly. "do you remember her?"

The blond nodded. "I haven't seen her in a while." she responded, sounding way too old for her age. Her eyes never left Terra's figure. "She's...different looking." Leo shifted in the background as old memories of Terra flooded his mind. He knew she remembered them.

Gastra sighed. "Would you like to demstrate your talents, Celes?" the girl hesitated.

"Yes..." she answered, meekly.

"Good." Gastra laughed. He opened his cape and pulled a dagger out and handed it to Celes. The girl looked at it, confused.

"Sir...?"

"Go ahead...attack her, child!" Celes looked over at Terra, the girl was still under the cape, her frame rocking, trying to stay up on her feet. The grunt gasped and stepped back, afraid. Celes frowned and lowered her hand.

"I...can't."

"Why?" he demanded. "because she is weaker than you? Because you are a afraid?"

"Because she is a child." she answered, coldly. "Because she hasn't done anything...she has no weapon to defend herself!" Gastra snarled, about to slap the girl when he turned and slapped Terra instead. Celes gasped when the girl toppled over easily and fell to her side. The cape fell off and the girl quickly covered her eyes, crying.

"Silly rain! Why silly rain!" she cried, trying to block out the sun.

"See?" he growled, Leo and Cid in the background bit their lower lip to say something to Gastra. "This girl is weak! Weak things must be taken care of! As a soldier of mine Empire, you should know this!"

"I won't kill innocent people!" Celes growled. "I will not harm a citizen that has done nothing wrong!"

"Then you will surely die from one someday, Celes. Either attack the girl or I have her head chopped off!" he counted to five. "One," Celes looked over at the poor girl searching for the cape while she covered her eyes. "Two!" she gripped her hands. "Three!" Terra found the cape and smiled as she held it over her head. "Four!"

"Fine!" Celes shouted and highered the dagger. How would Terra defend herself when she couldn't even see? How cruel could Gastra be? She charged toward the girl, shouting. Terra dropped the cape at the sound and held her hands up, crying.

"Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Celes was suddenly thrown five feet back when she crashed into a light purple shield. The girl got up, amazed at Terra's defenses. Gastra giggled from excitement.

"Oh my! What a talent she has!" Celes was used to test Terra. The girl looked down, her hands gripping the dagger's hilt. Terra covered her eyes and turned, running blindly away. She cried when she ran into a wall and fell over. Gastra laughed. "Such power! And she did that without seeing! The magical usage we'll gain from her...! Cid," he turned to the doctor. "Do you think you can get her talents and implement it to others?"

"I can try, my friend." he answered, nodding his head. "I tried before, I've never see it happen like this."

Gastra nudged his head to Terra. "Leo, take the girl to the infirmary and see if she's permanently blind and then take her to her cell. Get her in the morning and bring her to the labs, we'll start out testing then." and then he snapped his fingers and Kefka and Celes started to follow him, but before Kefka left, he paused.

"Leo..." the clownish man giggled with delight. "don't go reversing all the years I put into her." and then he left. The gently man hurried to Terra and threw the cape over her head and then guided her to the infirmary.

* * *

Leo didn't know what to say...he knew she didn't know he was there and earlier, when she was singing...he knew she wasn't sane anymore. Whatever Kefka did to her, hurt her more than he thought. He knew the rape...the rape was still going and swallowed back the vile in his through as he lifted her up and onto the flat table in the little doctor's room.

Sure...he gave her up to him when she was 9, but it didn't mean he approved of what Kefka was doing. And yes, he loved Celes as if she were his own, yet he could still feel pity and sorrow, he wasn't a monster. And the fact that she was a child made him sick even more so.

He gave her a little cup of warm milk, even though he knew she was past 5, and smiled just a bit when she took the cup and pressed it to her dry lips. She drank it all within seconds and coughed, licking her lips. He saw her shaking arms and quickly took the cup. He decided to put on another voice. "Better?"

She just sat there, gently swaying form side to side, occasionally jolting at sudden pains or movements. "...do you feel better now...Terra?"

The girl moaned. "...silly...rain..."

"Please, just answer." he growled, gripping his hands. How could Kefka do this! She was just a child! A child! She swallowed.

"...b-bet-better?"

"Yes..."

She shook her head as she clapped her hands, laughing. "Better rain! Better rain!" he sighed and looked away when Cid entered the room. He gave Leo one glance before he advanced on the young girl. He opened her eyes and shined light in them. The girl responded and cried, rubbing at her eyes.

"She'll be fine if she goes outside more...I assume Gastra and Leo will want proof?" Leo nodded so Cid hurried and filled out a doctor's note. "This has instructions, down to the last period. Make sure you stress how important it is..." he grabbed a lolipop out of the jar beside him and shoved it in Terra's hand. The girl made a questioning sound and sniffed the object a couple times as the adults talked.

"How old is she?" in a blank tone.

"I...I don't know. I think she was nine when we found out about...it." he took another glance at her. "Its been two years, almost three. So about eleven. Why?"

Cid was silent for a few moments before he grabbed a bottle of little, yellow-green jells and handed them to her. "She's going to need these."

"Why?" Leo asked, pocketing the bottle.

"Because she is eleven, Leo, and she is under Kefka." Leo thought for a moment and gasped.

"Y-you think he'd actually try that?"

"He rapes her, doesn't he? I wouldn't put it pass him to try and get her pregnant with the 'greatest heir' this Empire has ever known. He would attempt to create a powerful child he could mold easily...Kefka thinks like a maniac, of course he'd try so i thought to prepare. Just make sure she takes one every five days." Leo nodded and helped Terra down.

She had thrown the lolipop down on the floor and sighed, licking her lips. "I'll get you more milk later, come on." and then he led her off.

* * *

He was astonished to see her cell. There was no bed, no warmth, no pillows, no blankets...nothing but a barred window and cold floors and walls. Inside the cell, he let her hand go and watched she felt her way through the cell to a corner where she sat down and cuddled into a ball. He knew that was common for her, so he sighed. "Do you want a blanket?" Terra closed her eyes and moaned, as if she were saying to leave her alone. "Would you like a blanket?" he repeated.

She opened her eyes and yawned. "...no."

"Why?"

"I'm...I can't have a blanket."

"Why?" he was glad she wasn't insane...all the way. "Did Kefka say this?" she nodded. Should I tell her who I am? No...that will just hurt her even more. But lies will just hurt her too, especially if they come from Kefka. He took a deep breath. "Terra..." the girl looked up. "I...Its me...Leo." there was no response. "Do you remember me?"

"Leo...yes."

"I'm...gonna try to make sure Kefka doesn't harm you more, okay? I know I haven't been around-"

"...'I wish I killed you when I had a chance.'..." she whispered and he frowned.

"What did you say?"

"...what you told me..."

He gasped when he remembered telling her he wished she had died when they met. He swallowed and avoided re-saying it. "I did." he admitted.

"Why are you here...?" she asked, tears forming in her eyes. "I hurt more than I did then...isn't it what you wanted?" he took a step back.

"Terra, I would never wish this kind-"

"I'm dead to you...right?"

He took a deep breath. "Yes, I said that...but it doesn't mean I want you to suffer."

"Get out! I get enough pain from Kefka! Just leave me alone!"

"Terra...please, I'm trying to make this right."

"Please...just leave." she cried, covering her face. "Just leave..." before Leo could answer, she crawled closer to the corner. "Leave...leave, please." He nodded and turned around.

"It isn't right!" Leo shouted, smashing his fists into the flat surface of the table. "She has gone through enough, m'lord!" he was talking to Gastra. "Please, at least allow her to talk with Celes, please!"

Gastra sighed and rubbed at his chin. "How goes her eyes?"

Leo sighed. "They are working quiet well. She still needs to adjust them, but Cid said she was doing well."

"Good...good." he sat back. "Fine." he waved a hand at him. "She may see Celes and Celes only, understand?" Leo nodded.

"Thank you, sire. Thank you..."

* * *

_Whoo! Finally! The next chapter! It took me a while to write the ending of the chapter, as I had to stop for a while - life, ya know? Anyway, please review kindly and thank you so much for reading! Have a awesome day! :)_


	6. Learn the ropes, girl!

Chapter 6: Learn the ropes, girl!

It was early in the morning when Leo woke to the sounds of trumpets. Today Leo would check on Terra, to see how her recovery went. He hoped he didn't find her broken down again, he hoped he didn't see Kefka abusing her. He swallowed back the vile in his throat as he tied his boots. He didn't want to face her...just in case he would see something, but he had to. He had to test her recovery, see what Kefka taught her and bring the girl to Celes, so she could perhaps get away from her insanity.

When he arrived at her cell room, he peaked in through the bar window on the door. She wasn't in the room, he became worried and stormed in. "Terra? Terra?" he called her name a few more times and then turned when he heard footsteps. Standing at the door, was Kefka, dressed fit for battle...or training. "Where is she?" Leo asked angrily, his hands clenching tightly.

"Relax Leo," Kefka whispered sickly as he walked a bit in. "She's out in the training yards. Gastra appeared earlier and tested her eye sight out. He decided to she was fit for some...easy exercise."

"If you touched her Kefka..." his voice was short, angry...he wanted to tear Kefka's spine out through his throat. Kefka laughed.

"Tsk, tsk Leo...was that a threat?" he seemed happy by the...chance that someone could or would, challenged him. "You say such hurtful things sometimes, old friend." he mocked his hurt feelings. "Don't worry your little head about the tool, she's perfectly 'safe' under my watchful eye and very obedient."

"I'm serious Kefka...don't ever touch her again." and with that, Leo stormed pass the brightly colored man and toward the training yards located just around the tower wall.

Finally making it to the training yards, Leo saw Terra sitting, most likely taking a rest, under a roofed facility used for the training boys to sit and eat during break. He was surprised to see Gastra walking toward her, Celes behind him, who was garbed in training attire.

"Rise girl," Gastra commanded and following orders, Terra rose, still a little unbalance due to her eyesight not being fully restored. "I brought you a...'friend'." he nodded to Celes and the blond stepped forward. "I'm sure you'll remember her. Her name is Celes, you met before." Terra nodded, acknowledging his words. "Good...I want you to learn as much as you can from her, understand?" she nodded, hesitant. "I also want you to listen to everything she says, she's almost a Corporal, which puts her above you, understand?" She didn't know what a corporal was, but she understood that she was to listen to Celes; she nodded again. "Good, that's all. Leo will arrive soon to train you two today," Terra had gasped at Leo's name. "so you listen to him well!" again Terra nodded. "Aw, Leo!" he saw the man walking toward them. "Good, good...serve me well, son." with that Gastra left the two girls.

Celes crossed her arms as soon as he was gone and looked over at Terra. "So, how about we work on form?"

"Celes," Leo muttered as he came to stand by her. "I give you your course of training, you help Terra." the girl pouted and looked away, embarrassed. "Terra," he turned to the girl and saw her eyes adverted. He hesitated to continue, but decided to do it anyway. "I'm setting you up with physical form and fitness, do you understand what that means?" a few seconds later, she answered with a no. "It means you'll be trained to be physical fit and you'll learn all the poses required of you as a soldier of the Imperial Magitek fleet." She was silent, so he continued. "With all that training, proper dedication and Celes' help, you should go up in ranks and maybe even meet Celes' position after her upgrade."

Should she tell him she didn't want that? Should she tell him she didn't want to train for the Empire? How would she word it if she could build up the strength to say it? Would she get punished if she spoke like she was when in Kefka's presence? Was Leo's presence different? Or would he too, punish her? She knew from past experience that Leo...wasn't kind, maybe he was 'kinder' than Kefka, but what Leo said and did to her hurt her more than anything Kefka ever did. But here she was...standing besides the tall man she once loved and feeling terrible for wanting to scream at him. She took a deep breath, her heart aching, and nodded. She didn't know what else to say...

And with that, the day started. Leo took Celes and Terra to the middle ring and gave Terra a wooden sword to practice with. Leo knew that she had practiced with Kefka, so he didn't have to teach her the basics. She was rather quick, which startled him at first. She was fastest than Celes with the blind, but her form was terrible. Her arms wobbled around, the sword never stayed straight enough and she was left-handed, something he had to work with since she was worse with her right-hand.

Despite her lack of form and arm strength, she was quiet good at sword play. She didn't do it pretty or well like Celes, but she managed to get the job started with her quick reflexes. He wondered then, why that was so. Was it Kefka's tedious, hurtful training or was it...because who she was? He wanted to believe it was because her hard work, but he had a feeling that wasn't so. Even with her quick reflexes, Celes still managed to beat the girl each and every time. Another amazing trait she had, was the massive stamina. She was always moving, never running out of energy. She was very energetic, which he knew would help her if she later went into a battle.

Celes had a hard time keeping up with her stamina. When she thought the training was over for a break, Terra stand right back up re-energized and ready to go. Whens he had enough bruises for the day, Leo deemed it done. "Alright alright girls," they paused. "Enough for today. Terra, your form is sloppy. You need to work on it, try to stay in form and don't worry about being hit. I know it'll hurt, but next time that's what I want you to do. It'll help you, I promise." he turned to Celes, who was heaving breaths. "You need to work on your stamina. Watching you spar with Terra made me realize that...you don't last very long." Celes sent a jealous glare at Terra. "So I'll work up a routine that will help you with it." he nodded to them. "Time to end the day."

When Terra was brought back to her cell room at 5:00 pm exactly, they locked the doors after sliding her dinner to her. She wanted to spend a little more time outside, the place she hardly got to go to. When she was out, she was training or practicing her magic with Kefka. She wasn't allowed to run around or explore, she'd never get to see nature. She heard Gastra talking one day, about her activities and heard him tell Kefka that she was to spend time outside not training, to help her build up strength. To Kefka's dismay, he meant playing and Gastra made that clear.

But she had a feeling he'd deny the order and make up a perfect reason as to why she couldn't and then present it to Gastra, who _would_ agree to it. But she so badly wanted to play outside, but then again, she didn't know what play was anymore. Who would she play with? When she was younger, some of the maids would play a little with her, but not anymore. How would she play by herself? So, sad, she gathered herself up in the corner and waited for the next day when she'd have that fleeting few hours outside training, under the sun's warm kisses and the wind's gentle caresses. She would wait...all by herself.

* * *

Sitting in a bigger cell, to the back under the barred window, was a young girl with bright green hair. She had turned 12, quickly gaining ground in her training. Despite her sloppy form Leo worked hard to erase, she managed her climb in ranks in the Imperial Army and soon found a position in the great newly produced "Magitek Fleet", a group of people trained to control and operate magically powered suits. She was chosen not only for her training, but for the magical boost she gave the machines when touching the glowing blue panel.

Beating out its older model known as the Magik Suit, the Magitek Armor/Suit, quickly became the new choice. It cost a lot of Gil to make but the enhancements of the newly created armored suit was amazing. The old suit was powered by fresh Esper blood and was controlled with control sticks and buttons to form the blood into magical properties. But the new suit, courtesy of Dr. Cid, was designed to destroy.

It was reamped to have a control panel, a control arm and a sit that formed the person's stamina and power, to control the suit. The panel's ranged from the color red, the lowest powered suit, to green (second), orange (third), yellow (fourth), pink (Fifth), Turquoise & Purple, the two last levels and the highest powered suits. Turquoise and purple was reserved for magically enhanced soldiers, or, people who were injected with Esper blood or Magicitical energies ripped from the bodies of Espers. But purple was given to one person and one person ever...Terra Branford, a 12 year old girl with energy so massive, the purple suit didn't need a Esper's blood, just Terra piloting it.

The panels were designed to read the person's "mana" aka "energy levels" and channel it to give them their level of magicks, which even at its weakest level was still powerful enough to take down armies in hours. The control arm was a feature put into the new suits that allowed the pilot to fully control their armored beast as if it was their body. The pilot would stick their arms into the control arms and then the color of the panel, depending on who, would colorize the pilot's arms and link them directly to the beast, allowing full control and complete destruction. Terra's suit, to 's amazement, had abilities and magicks the others didn't. It would generate missiles, fire, ice, lightning, bio-hazard liquid or smoke, confusion and more. The bad part of it, was that the higher up magick took a lot of energy from Terra and left her suit immobilized as the suit was powered by stamina unless she carried around a charge pack, which was nearly the size of the teck's back and took up much needed space.

So to get around the issue, Leo was ordered by Gastra to expand or help Terra's stamina the best he could, or find ways to show her how to improve or reserve her energy. Finding no real good way to help, Gastra was forced to purchase large boxes of Elixirs, Ethers and other stamina improving potions to keep her on the field longer.

With all that preparations done, it was almost time to send her on her first mission. She feared it, she didn't want to kill people, not again. Through the year, Kefka forced her...her to kill people. He would have her burn them alive with her magic and when she didn't, he'd slowly kill the people as a punishment to her. The people he picked to kill, was people Gastra provided, which ended up being criminals of small degree who stole or ran away from their draft, peddlers, Doma citizens who were captured and even rebel force members known as "Returners.". Even killing the criminals made her sick to her stomach and she knew she'd burn the same way Kefka would at the end of their lives. She had done wrong, the ultimate wrong and knew she was a bad person.

With that suit she knew she'd be commanded to kill more people, she knew that was the point of killing the others, to "train" her to the feeling so she didn't hesitate. She heard that Celes would join her for ten missions, even the start off mission, which she was going to have to do by the end of the day. She was fitted in Magitek suit attire, a black tunic with matching trousers and boots. Her head was capped by a twirled cap, black as well with the insignia of the Empire on it. On her waist, a sword and dagger on the other side of her belt, was a pouch full of elixirs and ethers as well as potions that could help her feel better if she came to a close encounter.

Kefka had come into the cell earlier with two maids. He had the girls outfit her for something and then tested, which was weird, makeup on her and grinned, laughing to himself over something and then as quickly as he appeared, he left, replaced by a knock. When the cell doors opened, Leo and ten guards stood there, dressed for battle.

"Terra?" he called, gaining her attention. "Its time. Come, we have to hurry to the platform." she rose, reluctant and then followed, dread filling her heart. When they arrived at the platform, she was put in line with the others and Celes.

Celes was dressed in Corporal colors topped with the fitting rank badge. A short cape billowed down her back with a giant, red rose on it. Buckled to her side was two flat swords and one dagger. She bore no cap, but a band that went around her forehead with a shining blue gem at the center. Her hair wasn't pulled up or back, but fell down her back in a beautiful, gold waterfall. Dedication and determination burned in her eyes with the icy cold touch of causing death and fear. Her eyes and pose lacked the fear of the mission but held a aura of power and intelligence. She was dressed in dark blue and smoky gray. The rest of the soldiers, brown and black. Celes was to lead the small start mission to a small little village south of the Empire located near the base of the mountains...rumors of a small resistance resided there.

Standing before them, Kefka and Leo, garbed in general attire. Leo paused before them. "Your mission today is clear. You will arrived, secure a household for an implement of Imperial Soldiers and find the elder of the town. Do not kill him, we need him alive. Capture him and hold him until we arrive. If soldiers of the resistance appear, take them out if that's the only way. Do not risk your lives today, be smart and intelligent and listen to your commanding officer Celes Chere. She may be a young girl," he looked at the others. "but she is cunning enough to lead the division wisely as I would. If I hear you disobeyed her, your punishment will be severe, if you live." he nodded to them. "Now to your tanks, go on." Terra and the others headed to their suits, but Leo stopped Celes.

"Listen Celes, Gastra wanted me to inform you that Terra's life is very important. Do not risk her, we need her. Protect her and tell the men the same. Don't let her leave your sight either, she could use the tank to disobey or leave the Imperial Magitek Fleet." she nodded. "Good...if you managed this, despite not being a part of the Magitek Fleet, you could be the one to rule them, if you do this mission right." she nodded again.

"Yes sir, I'll follow the orders directly sir."

"Good. You should arrive at the town in two or three days. Do not make stops to other towns, you should have enough. If you don't, signal the once warming button and we'll come to aid you and that counts for any massive trouble you cannot handle by yourself, do you understand?"

"Yes sir," she bowed her head and turned on her heel and went to her division. She wasn't riding a suit, but a black, armored Chocobo with red eyes.

* * *

Arriving at the meeting point outside of the village, the Imperial Magitek Fleet took a small break so Celes could devise a plan to get into the city and get rid of the Returner's watchouts. She needed a distraction and smiled when she thought of one. It was perfect, but should she? Leo warned her that Terra's life was very important...but she could use Terra to confuse and gain the attention of the village while she and the others went through the back unnoticed and then started their raid.

She had a plan worked out, but should she risk Terra's life? She would have to be out of the Magitek Suit and that worried Celes. The young girl looked up and pass her men to see Terra sitting along on the shoulder of her Magitek Suit, she was watching the ground, a look of pain and fear in her eyes. _No..._Celes decided, thinking for a new plan._ I can't risk her, it wouldn't be fair and it would go against orders. But what?_

Standing, Celes paced a line for a few minutes. Then it hit her. She could still use Terra, but safely! Smiling, she turned to her division. "Okay men, listen up." Terra looked over at the girl's voice, her innocent wide eyes watching Celes. "I have a plan, but it'll involve Terra most of all." she crossed her arms. "We need a distraction so the rest of us can head into the village and take over. Terra your job will be to enter through the front gate. I'm ordering you not to attack anyone, no matter what. Your suit is the best here and will not be damaged by anything they offer, not even their 'tools' or whatever they are called. Your suit is built with the best substance, so it can withstand the beating of arrows, spears, swords or any other weapon they have." she hurried her men to their suits as they ran, she continued.

"Once we enter through the back, I'll signal the Mode beeper installed in your suit and once you see the beeper blinking, head through the town and meet up with us. The distraction should be long enough just for us to sneak in and surprise the elder, we cannot afford for him to flee the town into the mountain caves, we'll never find him then." she got to her chocobo. "Do you understand group?" they nodded. "Terra?" she nodded weakly and climbed into her suit, fearing having to head into the town. "Good, off we go."

Terra stood at the foothill in front of the village, watching the towns people shuffled around the center of town to watch her on the hill, worried. Guards for the town, not of resistance, stood at the gate, armed. They were worried, she could tell. The mothers were scared, clutching their children close to their bodies. The husbands got their weapons, ready to defend their wives and children. The torches were lit to warn the town of the danger. A chief of the town's guards appeared at the gate and walked a bit further out, to shout to Terra. "Why have you come here?" when there was no answer, he continued. "We have paid the taxes, farmed the land for you and even sat back as you took our young boys to war!" still silence, angry, he gripped his hands. "You have no business here, go back to the Empire, Imperial scum!"

The suit started to march forward and the women and children screamed, scrambling about to escape the death they knew was coming. Through her pilot window, Terra watched as the children and women ran for the cover of the mountain back, their husbands and fathers standing to defend their home to the death. Rocks, spears and knocked arrows soon found their way to her pilot window. All she heard was faint "dings" and "cracks" but continued toward the town. A spear had been chucked at the window, sliding over the top of the window and falling harmlessly to the ground below. Giant, iron claws crashed down into the ground, wrecking the dirt below from the weight of the Magitek Suit. The iron talons of the feet dug deep into the ground, offering a slugglish movement. The iron arms hung in a fashion that indicated she was about to fire, smoke and steam came out of the mouth and nostrils of the iron beast, as if it was alive...breathing, wanting...

As the suit neared the front gate, she heard a hissing sound and looked down at the panel. It was blinking, indicating that they had fired something at her. Looking around, worried, she saw nothing. And then some black exploded before her and the Magitek Suit started to freak out. Scared, Terra pressed the auto-pilot button just in case it got activated...it didn't. The suit was acting on its own. Whatever they fired, it must have fried the board to the system. She pressed the alarm button to beep to Celes she was having problems, but none of the system buttons were working. Terrified, Terra looked out the pilot window and watched as her suit ran toward the town in a crazy frenzy. The sluggish movement vanished and in place of it, a running iron-clad beast, lusting the taste of blood.

She pressed the shut down button, but nothing. She pressed the security lockdown button, but nothing. Celes...Leo...Gastra...Kefka...they would be so angry with her, especially Kefka. He'd hurt her for sure. Tears of frustration built up in her eyes as she watched the men flee, screaming as the iron suit slammed its way through the gates in ease and started toward the center of town. The tek suit broke through a empty house in one run and slowed down to turn around toward the people, aiming its arms toward the houses. "No! No!" Terra shouted as she bashed on the buttons. "Stop, please stop!" She stuck her arms back into the control arm and closed her eyes, trying to will the beast back to her control. _Come on...please, stop._

* * *

Celes stopped her team and jumped off her chocobo to check around the corner of the back of the town. When she peaked over, she saw nothing; the town was empty in the back. The plan was working. Hurrying back to her chocobo, she looked at her men. "You three, head to the east side and secure it," she had pointed to the three closest men, they started off. She next pointed to the farthest three. "You three go west and secure the biggest house and make sure no one stops you. The rest of you, head North and capture the Elder's house - don't harm a soul. And on your way, if you see private Branford in trouble, help her. Her life is too be protected no matter what! Now go!" they nodded and closed the pilot windows and started off. Celes would go search out Terra and bring her with her to the Elder.

When she managed to get to the center of town and before she could turn to see the ruckus occurring, a missile pod flew pass her - missing her bird by a few feet - and crashed into the side of the upper ledges of the town and exploded. Ears ringing, dirt raining down on her and startled beyond anything, Celes turn her head, everything quiet. Firing aimlessly around the town, was Terra's suit. What feeling Celes got first, was being pissed off and then concern racked her. Any longer and Terra would destroy the entire town and kill everyone, even her and her division. There was five bodies on the floor, most of them elderly men.

The mission had failed. Celes wasn't supposed to kill civilians! She told Terra not to fire! What the hell was wrong with her? Charging toward the tek suit, Celes managed the Chocobo around and behind the suit and then started to bang on the bolted door, screaming for Terra to stop.

From within the cockpit, Terra turned and could see Celes but she knew her leader couldn't see or hear Terra, it was impossible. "Celes! Celes! Please help me, I can't get it to stop!" she was crying.

The suit turned and smashed its iron arm against the chocobo and Celes, throwing them a few feet away. The bird cried out and ran off in a hurry, scared. Celes coughed, getting up. Her balanced was thrown and she thought she sprained her leg. Her back hurt, she had landed on pieces of the gate and houses. She glanced up to see the suit running toward a small group of men trying to defend their village. "Stop Terra! Stop!" she shouted, trying to run over. "Stop!"

The group of men heard Celes commanding the suit to stop and lowered their weapons a bit, thinking it was over, however Terra's suit smashed through the group. The large feet of the tek squashed two men flat, a sick "snap" filled the air as the blood of the men spilled out below the iron-clade claw. The other men shattered, but quickly found ground and started to pelt the iron tek with spears and oils, attempting to burn the pilot. With a quick snap, the arm of the suit rose and fired at the men. Engulfed in flames, the men withered in a desperate attempt to put out the flames, but failed. Nothing but charred bodies was left...

"I said stop!" Terra shouted at the suit. "Please, please stop..." she attempted to open the door, but a bolt of electricity zapped forth from the panel and shocked her back to her seat. The suit...it didn't want her to leave. But how could it stop her? Angry, Terra put her arms back into the control area and closed her eyes. _You will obey me...you will stop!_ She felt dizzy and opened her eyes...they had become black.

Celes watched in horror as the suit hissed and turned to aim toward the north of the town, directly aiming at the elder's home. _No! No!_ Celes ran faster and faster. "No Terra! No!" before she could get to the suit, four large missiles ripped out of the chest of the beast and flew toward the building where the Elder lives. Dropping to the ground, Celes looked away as she heard the explosions. Hearing the loud movement of the beast, Celes looked up, angry. It was heading toward the west, charging another fire beam attack. Why was Terra attacking the town? Desperate, Celes got up and ran to the east, searching for one of her soldiers. She found one tek soldier sitting at the front gate. He had managed to take over the east side. She banged on the window and waited for the pilot to open the door.

"Get out of the suit." when he hesitated, she shouted. "Now!" when he jumped out, she entered the suit and closed the door. She had to stop Terra. She used the control sticks and then pushed the speed up to high and charged after Terra. When she found the girl, she was using the suit to dig into the side of the mountain base. What was she doing? Enraged, she made her suit grabbed Terra's Magitek Armor by the arm and pull her back and chuck her to the ground.

Inside the tek, Terra banged her head against the back as her suit fell to the ground. Soon, an iron foot stomped down on the pilot window and held her down, aiming an arm down at Terra's suit. Celes pressed the communications button. "Stop it right now, Terra! I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I must." Trying to force Celese off of her, Terra grabbed her foot with her iron arms and started to left her. Alarmed, Celes fired a shocking bolt down Terra's tek suit.

From inside of the suit, Terra's suit started to flash. "Warning! Warning! Warning!" kept repeated in a robotic voice as Terra forced her suit into submission and threw Celes off of her suit. Standing, Celes opened fire upon Terra. She launched fire, ice and bolts at her and watch as the suit lost its power, or was it Terra losing her energy? Just as Terra was about to fire missiles at the dig spot, Celes launched another bolt attack and this time, it fried the Tek's suit.

Buzzing, the suit rippled with electricity and then its joints exploded and it collapsed to the floor. Steam hissed out of the face of the tek and the jet holes in the back and then finally, Celes' alarm beeper went off on. It was the one she told Terra to hit if trouble happened. Terra's tek's window exploded and Celes gasped, jumping out of her suit. "Terra! Terra!" she climbed up the side of the beast and pushed the broke glass shards out of the way and saw her buckled to the seat, her forehead, nose and lower lip bleeding and her hand clutched around the beeper. Celes became enraged and grabbed Terra by the collar of her tunic shirt and pulled her out of the seat after unbuckling her.

* * *

Terra opened her eyes to see that she was in a dark room. Her head throbbed, her arms hurt, her chest felt tight and her nose throbbed. She sat up, pain flaring up her back and looked around. She was in a cell room. Alarmed, she stood up - aching - and walked over to the door. She didn't recognize the cell, it wasn't her cell in the Empire. She peaked out from the door and knew she was downstairs, she could see a stone staircase. Was she captured? She tried to remember the last thing that happened and only saw blackness. _W-where am I?_ tears built up. _Did C-Celes leave me behind?_

She heard doors slid open and gasped, turning her head to see better. "Celes?" she cried out, but nothing. "Celes! Celes!"

"Oh shut up," called out a familiar voice. Terra gasped. _K-Kefka?_ Soon, the clown appeared in front the door, a grin so evil on his face, it made Terra shiver. "I hear you've been a bad girl, Terra."

"N-no! My suit, it wouldn't do as I said, I tried-"

"Tsk tsk, Terra," he looked down. "You destroyed half of a peaceful town and killed hundred and thirteen innocent men. What will I do with you?"

"I didn't do it! They did something to the suit and it didn't work-"

"You really do need to learn the ropes, girl!" he shouted, making her step back. "I suppose it doesn't matter," he turned. "if I told you I was the one who forced the suit to disobey you." she frowned. "they wouldn't believe you anyway, not with the wreck Celes did to the suit."

[-]

After Kefka left her new cell room, she sat in the corner, trying to remember what happened, but it was all a blur. The next morning came and a new appearance. It was Leo and Celes. When the door opened, Terra got up and ran toward Celes. Before she could hug the blond, she pulled back. "What happened to you?" she hissed under her breath so Leo couldn't hear. Terra's frown deepened.

"The suit was hit with something...I couldn't control it, I tried to press the alarm, but it wasn't working. A-And when you were by the side of the suit, I tried to tell you but you couldn't hear me."

"So you lost control?" asked Leo, frowning. "How did it happen exactly?"

"I...I don't know. Someone threw something at the window and it exploded. And then my suit didn't work, well it worked, but it didn't follow my orders." she started to cry. "I was so scared, C-Celes. I'm so s-sorry." she wiped her eyes and hugged the girl. Celes sighed and then slowly hugged her back.

"Its okay...the Elder is fine and your suit led us to the Returners' hideout in the mountain, so its not so bad."

"I will head to Gastra," Leo said as he turned to leave. "and explain what happened. Celes, take Terra to the medical center and have her checked out and then take her back to her other cell room."

"Yes sir." she bowed her head and took Terra by the hand and led her away. Leo crossed his arms, fully knowing what had occurred.

_Damn you Kefka._ He left the cell room shortly after the girls.

* * *

_Sorry for the late update! It took a while to get personal issues out of the way and then I updated some other fanfictions first. And then I checked on this one's last update and was like "wow! I have to update!" and then wrote this chapter. But what really pushed me, was the latest review by Kate._

_Thank you very much for reading, Kate. And everyone else too! I haven't gotten many reviews on my fanfictions lately and was worried, especially in this story xD_

_Thank you for reading and being supportive everyone! I hope to see a review! :3_


	7. The voices in my head

**Chapter:** _The voices in my head  
_

General Leo's explanation for the destruction Terra caused didn't lessen the emperor's anger and disappoint. He would not hear any of what Leo tried to explain, and any accusations he made against Kefka were shot down swiftly. "Where is your evidence!" he barked. "Kefka wasn't even there, he was with me the whole time."

"Sir, please, it wasn't the girl's fault. You must realize that she would never harm another person, don't you? She's twelve and—"

"—And a monster!" he snapped, rising out of his chair, his eyes glowing with rage. "The girl is full of power...a lust for destruction and death is encoded into her."

"My lord, she's not—"

"—Not what! She is an Esper—"

"—Half of an Esper! She's part human as well, so you cannot just push the evils of the Espers on her and expect the human traits not to show!" Leo hadn't meant to take such a tone with his lord, but he couldn't help it. If Kefka was allowed to continue as he was doing, only death and sorrow would follow everyone. Gastra growled.

"How dare you speak to your Emperor that way, Leo!"

"I'm sorry m'lord…it's just, well, there is something – a plan perhaps – building in Kefka. I don't want him using the girl's powers to do it. Please…heed my warning, my liege."

"If Kefka steps out of line, you need not worry. I would put him down swifter than that girl could summon her little fire."

"What of the girl?"

"Unfortunately even if Kefka did something to cause this, we have nothing to prove it." He fingered his beard thoughtfully and then nodded to himself. "…Flog the girl." Leo's eyes went wide.

"F-flog? Surely…you can't be serious? She's twelve!"

"I am very serious…under any other circumstance she would be hung for her crimes, you should be happy I decided on this. I'll make an announcement tomorrow in front of everyone and say that the girl was under a drug and wasn't thinking straight, which is the cause for her light punishment." He walked over to the window, watching the men pull the battered Magitek suits across the yard to fix. "Twenty lashes should be good enough for the public."

Leo's eyes stung. How could Kefka get away with this? She was a child…used by that horrid clown. But what? What did Kefka hope to gain from this? What was his cause, his reward? Did he simply do this just to watch the girl in pain? His thoughts went to Terra. Would she survive twenty lashes? _She has to…_

Leo had found Celes walking down the halls and asked her if she had already taken Terra back to her chambers. The young girl nodded, but her face looked panicked. "I did, Leo, but…"

"What's wrong Celes?" she looked down, trying to hide the near tears. "Some men came…they said she was going to be f-flogged." When he was silent, she looked up. "Why? She…I believe her! I was in charge of her, I should be flogged not her—"

"—Oh Celes…she will be fine. You did your best with her."

"But she's going to be flogged, for something Kefka did!"

"Terra is strong, she'll survive. Right now you have to concentrate on keeping Kefka away from you at all costs, okay?" she nodded. "There isn't much we can do for Terra if Kefka is involved, but we can try our best."

She didn't understand why she was being flogged for something she couldn't control, why they didn't believe her when she told them she didn't do it and that her suit acted by itself. With each cry that ripped from her throat, they hit harder the next. She could see Kefka smirking in the crowd, his arms crossed and his foot taping as if it was some musical piece he was watching. He didn't look guilty and he didn't look innocent…he looked twisted, as if he honestly believed himself he hadn't caused it. There was a burning in his eye greens that replaced everything he has ever strived for in the past. It was a strong flame, a black flame that refused to give up until it was all within his hands. Terra could sense his evil; she could see his black aura and heart.

The tenth hit made her cry out, tears falling freely now. Her back felt like it was on fire, stinging from the rivers of blood that escaped from the cuts that would be life scars. Not once in her painful life has she ever wanted to take a life…but now, all she wanted to do was tear Kefka apart and burn the pieces. With each strike her pain doubled and her hatred intensified until it was on the brink of erasing all other emotions. When the final whip slashed across her back and shoulders, her ropes were cut and she collapsed to the ground, panting and watching the drips of blood fall of her body onto the stone floor below. And then she heard his voice…the final straw.

"A pity she could only handle twenty." Kefka's snickering stopped as soon as Terra stood, stumbling back to the ground with two steps. His laughter returned. She gripped her hands, her body no longer shaking from pain but from anger and hate. And then it happened, she snapped. She jumped up and slashed as Kefka's face with a hand engulfed in flames and fell to the ground, smashing her face into the stone because he sidestepped at the last second. His eyes filled with greed.

"Is that the best you can do, witch?" She stood again, guards surrounding her, shoving spear points down at her to keep her down. Kekfa lifted a hand. "No, let her. I want to see to what she can do."

"But sir, what if she kills you—"

"—If she does, then she does. I'm _making_ her fight." Was that protection they heard behind his voice? They lowered their weapons and walked away, lingering around just in case. The clown used his foot to roll Terra over on her back, causing her to scream in pain. "Oh? Does it hurt?" he asked, pressing down her torso, causing her pain to increase. Another scream from pain escaped her dried lips. "Come on little fiery demon….show me your anger!"

She howled in fury as she pushed his foot off of her and hurried to her feet to start a round of slashes of fire. With each missed hit, she gained ground on Kefka, forcing him into a corner. His laughter boomed as he shoved his hands onto her chest and threw her ten feet away with a swift summon of ice. A cloud of dirt surrounded her when she landed on the ground; a painful "umpf" was heard. She stood a few second after, panting and blood dripping down her left eye. She could taste her own blood in her mouth and the searing pain on her back as she watched Kefka taunt her again. She didn't understand how she could hold so much anger or how she could be this hateful, but all she knew was that she wanted to hurt him the way he hurt or…if not more than he has. She felt sick that she wanted him dead, but her lust to see his body burnt outshone the others as she ran forward, howling a war-like howl as she conjured a jet of blue and white flames upon Kefka.

His hysterical giggling could be heard over the roar of the flames and the crackling of the stone, trees and grass around them. When the fire faded and left Terra's hands a bit charred, Kefka was seen standing perfectly still with a green shell over him. "That's more like it Terra, show me your rage! Show me how much you can hate!" he snapped his fingers and water flushed out of the ground and smashed her into the back walls, choking on the dirty water. It dispersed before it could kill her and left her trembling for air. She heard one soldier gasp and tell Kefka it was enough, but he was quickly dragged away by Palazzo's demand. "Come on Terra, is this all? Surely a little witch as powerful as you can do more than…this!" he gestured at the melted grass and stone and grinned. "It's pathetic! Do better! Kill me Terra! Take your revenge!"

Tears filled her eyes as she jumped forward. "Arrraaaaaaaaaah!" she jumped on him and pushed him against the wall, causing a spark of panic in the little painted man. She reached for the dagger he had sheathed on his side and tried to stab him full of little holes like swiss cheese, but he threw her off and taunted her once more, no longer scared of her. Flashes of what he did to her came and was replaced by another, longer more vicious image. She had enough…she didn't want to see him ever again. He was part of the problem…he was a part of what made Leo hate her and she would never forgive him. She exploded into a fury of anger and fire and started to slash at Kefka once more with the little dagger she stole off him. She slashed a button off his chest and kept going, the fire building around her grew and grew with each slash.

"That's it!" he shouted, incapable of stopping his fit of giggles. "Destroy me witch, burn me!" he pushed her once more, this time using his own fire. The way fire didn't even burn her showed just how powerful she was, it showed why she was so important to him and the Empire. "BURN!"

"S-shut…up!" she shouted, showering him in pure blue flames. The fire consumed the half of the stadium the clown had been sitting on and crawled up the side, threatening to burn down the whole east wing of the Empire. Sweat beaded up on her forehead, her clothes sizzled from sparks, the air dry and heavy, and the ground molten. When she stopped, not because she was tired, but because she thought he was dead, she lowered her arms and waited for the smoke to fade. He was gone! Did she kill him? Suddenly, she felt like a monster, exactly what he and others said she was. She remembered Leo's words vividly.

"Why kill such a creature?"

And then she completely stopped, her eyes filling with tears as she realized what she had done and that Leo was right – she was a monster. She started to sob and covered her face with her hands, missing when Kefka appeared from behind the stadium's walls, grinning ear to ear at the power she displayed. "Now now," he whispered as he leaned down to lay a hand on her shaking, bleeding shoulder. "This is only the beginning."

After her flogging, Terra had become more withdrawn than usual. Her little face, once shun with innocence and love, darkened with pain and grief. She did as Kefka demanded easily, though it took a few slaps here and there when she refused to chase after and kill captives of war. And when Celes came by to talk, as Gastra said she could, Terra hardly talked. Whenever the young blond would ask the hybrid anything, she would answer 'yes' or 'no', at least when Kefka was in range. It was only on her training free, Kefka free days that she smiled and talked a bit. She had become empty…what she tried to do to Kefka had left her void, believing exactly what he and others said she was – a monster.

A few months passed and she was sitting down beside Celes outside, watching the other kids run about playing. Her view was obscured by her hoodie and the bars that separated the outside world with the Empire. Celes had been reading a book outloud to Terra, for school, when she suddenly stopped. "Terra?" the girl heard nothing, just the sound of joy the kids were making. Her eyes looked lost, full of need when Celes shook her shoulder. "Terra, are you okay?" the young girl snapped out of it and looked over at her tutor.

"Yes, I'm sorry…what were you saying?

Celes sighed, closing the book. "You were supposed to listen and then repeat what I said – next time I read, you need to listen."

Terra nodded, but looked over at the kids again. "What…are they doing Celes?" the blond glanced over and saw the kids throwing a ball to each other, shouting in joy.

"They are playing." Terra suddenly remembered when she was forced to fight against Celes many years ago and her reply was 'it's like playing for warriors'. She asked what it was. "Well…playing is, um…" the little blond haired girl rubbed her chin. "Well, to be honest, I'm not sure how to describe it. I've never really played with kids either…"

Terra's face darkened in embarrassment. "Maybe…we could play?"

"Play what?"

The hybrid girl turned to look at the other kids again. "What they are playing? We could…I mean, whatever you want to do is fine."

Celes laughed, setting the book down. "I think I have an idea! I thought it always looked fun, but the generals wouldn't allow me in. Come on," she grabbed Terra's fragile arm and pulled her up. "I have something great to show you!"

Celes had dragged Terra into the laboratories of the Empire, where Cid did his work. It had been temporally shut down while they worked on the pipes and flooring, but Celes knew how to open the door. Once inside, she led the little green haired girl around many corners before they stood in front of a giant airvent on the floor surrounded by piles of hay that stood at least ten feet high. When asked why they were there, Celes grinned.

"When I was little my uncle, Cid, would allow me to use this training vent for silliness."

"What does it do?"

"I pull this lever," she said, grabbing a large, black lever. "And once I pull it, the vent goes on. It has different levels of power, but the lowest is the one we'll use." Before she could ask what fun it could offer, Celes turned it to level one. Air pushed out and created a weak tornado of air and loud, whooshing noises. "We jump on!" she shouted. "and it carries us up and up and up!"

"What if we want down?" she whispered, hugging herself. "What if we go up, up and up and never down!"

"Shush!" Celes snapped, holding a hand over her mouth. "I know how to work this thing! All I have to do is press this button, okay?" she pointed to a red one by the lever. Terra's face bunched up in confusion.

"But if you are up, how will you press something that is down?" Celes blushed, embarrassed she hadn't thought about that.

"Well…err! Um, we'll take turns!"

"How about we tie a string to it?"

"Tie a string to a button?" Terra's face turned red. "No no…we'll just fall into the hay when we're done!" the hybrid girl grinned, giggling as she ran in circles around the blond. Celes showed Terra how to jump into the wind safely and then how to land and when the little girl learned, they ran into the wind in a fit of laughter.

Leo was beside himself with worry. Celes was supposed to report back with Terra an hour ago, and he knew the little girl was precise in her time and work. He found their usual spot to read and found the book alone and became worried for her. Did…did Kefka take them? When he went to check Kefka's corridors, he was alone, reading a history book about the War of Magi. "Kefka," the clown slammed the book shut in annoyance at Leo's voice. "Have you seen the girls? They have gone missing."

"They should be at the study grounds," he replied, standing to put the book away. "Unless Terra decided to pay my bed a visit." He giggled when Leo took a step toward him, his fists curled. "Oh Leo, I'm just playing with you. I haven't touched her…in a while." A growl ripped from Leo's mouth. "Have you checked the grounds?"

"Yes…" he found his calm. "I have, but they aren't there."

"Perhaps Cid—"

"—No, I checked with him too." Kefka's face twisted in delight.

"Maybe Terra took Celes off and well…" he slid his finger across his neck and stuck his tongue, feigning death.

Leo's eyes darkened. "This isn't time for your games Kefka," he turned for the door. "We need to find them." He didn't want it to turn out that Celes had tried to run off with Terra, she would be hung for treason.

When Terra's body fell into the hay, she popped her head out laughing. Celes was still swirling around up in the air, a giant smile on her face. "Come….on!" Celes shouted down to her friend. "Hurry up!" the green haired girl nodded and crawled out of the hay to jump into the wind again when something stopped her mid-step.

_Terra…_

She looked around, frowning. No one was there.

_Terra…_

She looked up at Celes, to see if she had spoken but the girl was giggling. Terra swallowed and then hurried her pace to the wind vent when it happened again.

_Terra…_

"W-who is there?" she whispered, her eyes wide in panic.

_Run…away…Terra…_

She blinked and looked up to Celes, her heart racing. "Celes! Celes!" _No Terra…run…run away!_ "Celes!" she cried out, watching the blond turn to look at her and lose her place. The next instance, Celes' body fell into the hay with an "umpf" and reappeared, pale with fright.

"What's wrong!" she asked, running over, her hand on her sword.

"S-someone was speaking to me!"

"Where are they?"

"I…I don't know, but the voice kept saying to leave—"

"—there isn't anything here, Terra." She said calmly, trying to bring peace back to her friend. "You're probably just scared of the dark."

"N-no, I heard him. He told me to run away."

"No one is here, look!" she gestured around her. "If it's not because you are scared, the wind vent probably made noises you thought were people."

"Uh…okay." She wanted to believe Celes…but that voice, it sounded so familiar. She swallowed and smiled brightly and encouragingly at her friend. "Okay, let's play!"

They had been playing for what seemed like hours when the doors burst opened and Leo and Kefka appeared, faces red with anger. Leo had grabbed Celes' hand and pulled her aside to angrily whisper his disappoint while Kefka pulled Terra aside and slapped her, screaming at the top of his lungs that she was a disobedient, dirty, lying little monster that he would make suffer.

Leo, ignoring Terra's punishment and Kefka's wicked anger, asked Celes why they had snuck off without telling anyone. "I didn't think it would be a problem," she told him, frowning. "I was reading to Terra and we saw the other kids playing…I just wanted to have some fun, and I wanted Terra to have some fun too. She's never played before…"

"You should have told someone where you'd be or what you wanted to do!"

"I…I'm sorry, please don't get angry at Terra, I made her do it. She tried to make me turn back, she did! Honestly! It's not her fault, please don't punish her."

Leo turned to look at Kefka after Celes finished. He had a strangle-hold on Terra's throat. The poor girl's eyes were wide with fear; twinkles of tears had built up in anticipation of what would happen to her. "Kefka?" He simply asked.

With a vicious snarl, he let Terra go. "Next time you take the little runt out to play, tell her master!" he snapped at Celes, storming out of the facility, leaving Terra with the two others. And then he whistled for Terra and she smiled warmly at Celes before she ran off to catch up with her master.

When they were gone, Leo sighed and turned Celes' face to his. "Were you telling the truth?" she nodded.

"I was about to leave too…she said she heard voices, and for a moment I thought I could too."

Leo's eyes searched the facility. _Voices? No…she couldn't have heard them…could she?_

* * *

_That's it for the update! I know its pretty short, but I promise I'll try and make the next one as long as possible! Just for you guys! :)_

_Thanks for reading! Looking forward to reviews! :D  
_


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